Neil Nitin Mukesh: Bypass Road can have a series

Neil Nitin Mukesh says he and brother have already started working on a sequel of his debut home production Bypass Road

Neil Nitin Mukesh, who is working on his debut home production Bypass Road, says the film has the scope to be turned into a franchise. The 36-year-old actor says he has already started working on a sequel. "Bypass Road is not geographically bound by any country or state. This story happens between Mumbai and Alibaug. We have started developing the next plot. 'Bypass Road' can have a series like part one, two, three, etc," Neil told PTI.

"The second one is being developed, it is shaping up really well. Since I am pre-occupied with the shooting of 'Bypass Road' so I will get a team of writers to help me on the story," he says. Neil says about 70-75 per cent of the work is complete with Bypass Road. As an actor, Neil started his Bollywood career with Sriram Raghavan's thriller Johnny Gaddaar and went on to work in films like New York, Tera Kya Hoga Johny, 7 Khoon Maaf and Players, among others.

"It is a risk that I took then because I believed in the genre. Thriller is a very interesting genre. It is not in hero-heroine space, it is more of story and plot and it is driven by storytelling," he says. Neil said it took three years to crack the script of Bypass Road. The challenge, Neil says, is in bringing edge-of-the-seat moment to the plotline.

"Audience today is smart and intelligent, they are exposed to this genre, they are aware of the norms of a thriller. They are always expecting and predicting the nature of how the story will unfold. One has to be one step ahead of the audience and try and test their intelligence."

The 36-year-old actor-producer started writing the story while he was shooting for Salman Khan-starrer Prem Ratan Dhan Payo. The plot has undergone some changes since then. "It was an original idea that came to my mind and I instantly penned it down. Then I started developing it and it shifted from one space to another."

Neil, who enjoyed watching Hollywood films like Saw, Scream and Hush, bemoans the lack of slasher genre in Indian thriller space. "We are very conservative with our thoughts when it comes to this space. It is something we have not done in India. I think we are now prepared. The digital medium has opened doors for new kind of content. So we should not shy away from exploring new things. It doesn't have to be gruesome or bloody, it can also be thrilling."

The film, which marks the directorial debut of his younger brother Naman Nitin Mukesh, also features Adah Sharma, Gul Panag and Rajit Kapur. It is likely to release in the first quarter of 2019.

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